Knitting machine and process for knitting beret caps and the like



4 IHVEHTOR.

. LOUlb BOREJOOK BY H] S ATTOKH EY L. BORSOOK May 7, 1935.

KNITTING MACHINE AND PROCESS FOR KNITTING BERET CAPS AND THE LIKE FiledDec. 1, 1933 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 FIG. 2

IHVEHTOR LOU|5 BORSOOK BY ms. ATTORNEY L. BORSOOK 2,000,373

KNITTING MACHINE AND PROCESS FOR KNITTING B ERET CAPS AND-THE LIKE May7, 1935.

Filed Dec. 1, 19:53 5 Sheets- -Sheet '5 'IHVEHTOR. LQUl BORfiOOK.

BY Hi5 ATTORNEY y 1935-v BORSOOK 2,000,373

KNITTING MACHINE AND PROCESS FOR KNITTING BERET -CAPS AND THE LIKE-Filed Dec. 1, 1935 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 L. BORSOOK May '7, 1935.

KNITTING MACHINE AND PROCESS FOR KNITTING BERET CAPS AND THE LIKE FiledDec. 1, 1933 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 ll F16. I5.

IHVEHTOR.

LOUIS BORSOOK BY H15 ATTORNEY Patented May 7, 1935 2,000,373 I UNITEDSTATES PATENT OFFICE KNITTING MACHINE AND PROCESS FOR KNITTING BERETCAPS AND THE LIKE Louis Borsook, Toronto, Ontario, Canada ApplicationDecember'l, 1933, Serial No. 700,518

7 Claims. (0]. EMS) The invention relates to improvements in a up,showing the increased fashioning and the machine for knitting bret capsin which the hat-band or foldover. p process is achieved byreciprocatory knitting of a Fig. 15 istop view of the bret in Fig. '14.plurality of intergal segments. The improved machine herein described,like The method heretofore in use, described in U. the one described inthe aforesaid U. S. Patent No. 5

S. patent to Charles W. Stout, No. 1,843,101, on 1,843,101, knitssegments or gores in integral suc- January 26, 1932, employs the usualScott 8: Wilcession, and the machine shown in the drawings liams type ofrevolving needle cylinder seamless is of the general type described inU. S. patent hosiery machine and brets manufactured under to Robert W.Scott on September 7, 1915, No. 1,-

same and under U. S. patent to Charles W. Stout 152,850. The inventionherein described employs 10 on 26th January, 1932, No. 1,843,100,possess cera novel arrangement of needles'shown in Figures tainundesirable features. Chiefly these are: 1, 5, 6, 7 and13. The crownneedles C are Firstly -insufilcient fashioning results in a providedwith medium butts; the ever-active neebret cap requiring a relativelylarge amount of dles (that is the needles which knit the peripheryblocking, and even then unable to retain its proper of the shaped bret)E have short butts; the 15 ne under ordinary conditions of wear, andneedles on the head side H have medium butts; secondly-the lack of asubstantial hat-band or and the hat-band needles B have long butts.tum-back knitted integrally with each segment. In addition to thesegroups there are two groups This invention particularly seeks to curethese of two needles each, in the hat band division I and deficienciesand incidentally other improvements 2, which last mentioned needles havelong butts 20 are introduced hereinafter described. and normal shanksbut the heads are removed;

Referring to the drawings: these needles produce a blank stitch tofacilitate Fig. 1 is a plan view of the needle circle showing thefoldover in the hat-band. the various cams and the down picker.Previously also machines of this type in most Fig. 2 is an elevation ofthe machine partly common use employed two down pickers or widen- 25broken away, embodying the invention. ing pickers, each adapted to throwtwo needles Fig. 3 is an elevation of the hat band cam and into knittingrelation; in this invention one down its connecting parts indicatingthegeneral conpicker is constructed with the capacity to throw structionand manner of mounting same, viewed four or five needles into knittingrelation. This from the front of the machine. modification is necessaryto afford an extension of 30 Fig. 4 is an elevation from a difierentview of a the number of needles employable in the crown detail shown inFig. 3. group where the size of the needle cylinder is Fig. 5 is adevelopment of the needle cylinder fixed, according y i is now Possibleto d p the showing the relation of the needles to the various standardmachine to permit the addit o o thirty 15 cams at the end of the firstcourse and before to forty nee in this D- The Space any needles havebeen picked down. cupied by these additional needles was previously Fig.6 is similar developmenttoFig. 5 at the end of necessity filled withshort butt or ever-active of the last course immediately before thehatneedles and corresponds roughly to the distance band needles arethrown into action. separating the two downpickers on the aforesaid Fig.7 is the same as Fig. 6 after the hat-band previously employed machine,these must be 40 needles have been picked down. spaced suflicientlyapart to avoid interference of Fig. 8 is an elevation viewed from thecentre of one with the other. These additional needles now the machineof the down picker and switch cam. provide the hat-band withoutdetracting from Fig. 9 is a vertical sectional view through the the sizeof the bret. It will also be seen that by down picker at the instant ofengagement. picking down a greater number of needles on each Fig. 10 issimilar to Fig. 9 at the instant prior reciprocation it becomes possibleto commence to disengagement. I with a lemer number of ever activeneedles and Fig. 11' is an enlarged plan view of the down stillretaining the same number of courses the picker. segment or gore willpossesses a definitely longer 50 Fig. 12 is an elevation of the detailin Fig. 11. taper, thereby yielding a better fashioned prod- Fig. 13 isa schematic representation of succesuct. In practice it has been foundthat berets sive gores or segments of a bret indicating the made by thisimproved method require relatively arrangement of needles. very littleblocking to produce the required shape ,5 Fig. 14 is a plan view of abret cap, bottom and may not therefter be readily distorted out of shapeby exposure to weather or by rough handling.

The knitting of the hat-band which is claimed as part of this inventionis accomplished by throwing all needles B into knitting relation as agroup at a. predetermined point in each gore; this is achieved by camlacting upon these needles each of which has a long butt. The mechanismfor this purpose is shown in Figures 2 and 3. in which 1 represents thebed plate provided with a stationary upright arm 5 drilled to receiveand allow horizontal movement of the shank 6 of a cam member 4; asuitable adjusting screw 8 in the end of the shank opposite to the camis designed to co-act with a tiltable cam 9, which cam comprises arounded portion in contact with the adjusting screw and eccentricallypivoted at It! in a stationary upright arm IS on the bed plate; a pivotII at the opposing end of cam 9 is engaged in a slot formed by spacingtwo adjustable fingers l2 and I3 by means of set screws on an upwardlyextending member l4 capable of vertical movement and thereby activatingcam 9. The said upwardly extending, memher I is adapted to have motiontransmitted to it through a rod I! attached to an arm 24 swingablymounted on the chassis of the ma-- chine at 21., the said rod beingprovided at one end with a member 22 having a slot carrying boltedtherein an adjustable contact finger l6 designed to co-operate with lugsH on an endless moving chain 19. contact finger into the aforesaid slotmay be achieved in any orthodox manner and. is not indicated in thedrawings. An upwardly extending member l8 piercing the bed plate isintended to guide vertical movement. Lugs H in addition to operating hatband cam 4 also operate switch cam. 29 through connecting rod 2|. Itwill be seen that by adjusting contact finger IS in slot 22 the; hatband cam l may within limits be activated at any desirable point in eachgore.

' a A spiral spring 23 is provided to bring the hat band ca'm out ofengagement and a similar spring 28 isprovided to insure proper contactbetween fingerli and chain l9;

The movement imparted to rod l4 through the lugs I1. is eventuallytransmitted in the form of vertical displacement by means of trough 25positioned at the remote end of the rod de-' signed to co-operate with awheel 26 afiixed in the lower of the guide rod it, these take up allhorizonta.l movement and only vertical displacement is transmittedthrough the upwardly extending member.

In the improved process the knitting preferably commences at theshortest course,this in practice has been found to be more satisfactorythan commencing at the longest course and picking needles up describedin the before mentioned patents to Charles W. Stout. This first coursebymy method may be knitted with as few as ten needles, since thedownpicker functions only with the needles adjoining the ever activeneedles E. The minimum number of such" needles for the first course isdetermined by the spread of the downpicker. In the illustration Erepresents twelve needles; the first course is therefore made on twelveneedles, same to have commenced on the clockwise reciprocation a secondcourse is knitted on the counter clockwise reciprocation on the sameneedles, but before the return reciprocation has been completed fourneedles on the crown side are picked down and the third course isknitted on sixteen needles, on the lowering all the long butt needles B.

The manner of bolting the the knitting process this needle is againpicked up, thus four needles are picked down and one is picked up.Before the return reciprocation is completed, four needles are nowpicked on the head-side and again two courses knitted and so ,on untilI6 double courses have been knitted when the hat-band cam l is throwninto action, thereby (In the illustration these amount to 20 includingthe two groups of blank needles.) All needles are now down on the headside and the downpicker continues taco-act with the crown needles onlyuntil the largest course has been knit when, as 'formerly, the switchcam is brought into action to raise all but the ever active or shortbutt needles E out of activity and the process is repeated until thebret is complete. The needles in the hat band designed to yield blankstitches are shown in Fig. 13 by dotted lines I and 2, these facilitatefolding and conversely re-act against unfolding of the hat-band.Previous to my invention berets were knitted using only three groups ofneedles, i. e. crown, ever active and head-side numbering respectively34, 37 and 18; within certain limits the relationship of the needlescould be varied but since the number of ever active needles mustremainin the vicinity of 37 or therabouts, no attempt at proper fashioning ispossible. In my process the three groups may be 81 for the crown, 10 forthe ever active needles and 45 for the head-side in addition to from 20to 40 needles for the hat-band, depending on howwide a band is desired.It will be apparent by inspecting Figures 14 and 15 that by virtue ofreducing the number of ever active needles the fashioning of each goremay be brought very nearly to the maximum diameter of the bret.

1 claim: g

1. In combination with a circular reciprocatory knitting machine adaptedto knit integrally a plurality of shaped segments to form a bret cap, aneedle cylinder having a series independent needles arranged in adjacentgroups of varying butt lengths; a widening picker with a needle engagingwing on each side of its operative end designed to co-act with aplurality of needles composing certain groups and bring some intoknitting relation at opposing ends of the series of needles in activeposition at each oscillation until such needles are exhausted; cam meansfor lowering-into action all needles of a certain other group as a unitat a predetermined point intermediate in said segment to knit anintegral hat-band or fold over; cam means for raising all butever-active needles out of action at the completion of each segment.

2. In combination with a circular reciprocatory knitting machine adaptedto knit integrally a plurality of shaped segments to form a bret cap, aneedle cylinder having a series of independent needles arranged inadjacent groups of varying .butt lengths wherein the group at one end ofthe said series comprises medium butt crown needles adjacent to a secondgroup of short butt ever-active needles which in turn is adjacent to athird group of medium butt head-side needles and lastly a group of longbutt hat-band needles, such last group embracing two aggregations oflong butt needles with part of the operative heads removed to form blankstitches disposed respectively midway therein and at the point ofjunction of the said two last mentioned groups oi needles; a wideningpicker with a needle engaging wing on each side of its operative enddesigned to co-act with a plurality of medium butt needles and bringsame into knitting relation at opposing ends of the series of needles inactive position at each oscillation until such needles are exhausted;cam means for lowering into action all long butt needles as a unit at apredetermined point intermediate in said segment to knit an integralhat-band or fold over; cam means for raising all but ever-active needlesout of action at the completion of each segment.

3. In combination with a circular reciprocatory knitting machine adaptedto knit integrally a plurality of shaped segments to form a bret cap, aneedle cylinder having a series of independent needles arranged inadjacent groups of varying butt lengths wherein the group at one end ofthe said series-comprises medium butt crown needles adjacent to a secondgroup of short butt ever-active needles which in turn is adjacent to athird group of medium butt headside needles and lastly a group of longbutt hatband needles, such last group embracing two aggregations of longbutt needles with part of I the operative heads removed to form blankstitches disposed respectively midway therein and at the point ofjunction of the said two last mentioned group of needles; a wideningpicker with a needle engaging wing. on each side of its operative enddesignedto co-act with four medium butt needles and bring same intoknitting relation at opposing ends of the series of needles in activeposition at each oscillation until such needles are exhausted; cam meansfor lowering into action all long butt needles as a unit at apredetermined point intermediate in said segment to knit an integralhat-band or fold over; cam means for raising all but ever-active needlesout of action at the completion of each segment.

4. In combination with a circular reciprocatory knitting machine adaptedto knit integrally a plurality of shaped segments to form a bret cap, aneedle cylinder having a series of independent needles arranged inadjacent groups of varying butt lengths wherein the group at one end ofthe said series comprises medium butt crown needles adjacent to a secondgroup of short butt ever-active needles which in turn is adjacent to athird group of medium butt headside needles and lastly a group of longbutt hatband. needles, such last group embracing two aggregations oflong butt needles with part of the operative heads removed to form blankstitches.

disposed respectively midway therein and at the point of junction of thesaid two last mentioned groups of needles; a widening picker with aneedle engaging wing on each side of its operative end designed toco-act with four medium butt needles and bring same'into knittingrelation at opposing ends of the series of needles in active position ateach oscillation until 'such needles are exhausted; cam means forlowering into action all long butt needles as a unit at a predeterminedpoint intermediate in said segment to knit an integral hat-band or foldover; such means comprising a shank mounted cam member adapted tohorizontal movement in and out of needle engagement, a tiltable camengaging the free end of said cam shank and mounted in a manner toimpart horizontal movement thereto upon activation; a device to controlmovements of last mentioned cam consisting of a vertically movable rodcarrying a. horizontally extending member at its upper said firstmentioned cam to a position of disengagement; cam means for raising allbut everactive needles out of action at the completion of each segment.

5. In combination with a circular reciprocatory knitting machine adaptedto knit integrally a plurality of shaped segments to form a bret cap, aneedle cylinder having a series of independent needles arranged inadjacent groups of varying butt lengths, wherein the group atone end ofthe said series comprises medium butt crown needles adjacent to a secondgroup of short butt ever.- active needles which in turn is adjacent to athird group of medium butt head-side needles and lastly a group oflong'butt hat-band needles, such last group embracing two aggregationsof long butt needles with part of the operative heads removed to formblank stitches disposed respectively midway therein and at the point ofjunction of the said two last mentioned groups of needles; a wideningpicker with a needle engaging wing on each'side of its operative anddesigned to co-act with four medium butt needles and bring same intoknitting relation at opposing ends of the series of needles in activeposition at each oscillation until such needles are exhausted; cam meansfor lowering into action all long butt needles as a unit at apredetermined point intermediate in said segment to knit an integralhatband or fold over; such means comprising a shank mounted cam memberadapted to horizontal movement in and out of needleengagement, anadjustable screw in the free end of said cam shank engaging the roundededge of a tiltable cam eccentrically pivoted relative to such edge andmounted in a manner to impart horizontal movement thereto uponactivation, a device to control movement of said last mentioned camconsisting of a vertically movable rod carrying an adjustablehorizontally extending member at its upper terminus slotted to engage apin extending from the free end of said tiltable cam and having at itslower terminus a wheel acting in a grooved mem-"' ber supported on aside extension of the free end of an arm mounted in a swingable mannerto impart vertical movement to said rod and held in operative relationto suitably spaced lugs in a moving chain through an adjustable contactflnger disposed on a similar side extension in the opposing direction ofsaid arm; spring means for returning said first mentioned cam to aposition of disengagement; cam means for raising all but ever-activeneedles out of action at the completion of each segment. I l

6. In the process for making bret caps on a circular reciprocatingmachine adapted to knit integrally a plurality of shaped segments, the

the symmetrical lowering of a plurality of needles into action atopposing ends of the series of needles in active position at eachoscillation by means of a widening picker until a' predetermined pointin each gore is reached and thereafter lowering all needles on the headside of the said segment by means of a cam and continuing the wideningwith the said picker at the crown end only.

7. In the process for making bret caps on a circular reciprocatingmachine adapted to knit integrally a plurality of shaped segment thesteps of reciprocating a group of ever-active needles with groups ofneedles in idle position of symmetrically lowering four needles intoaction and lifting one needle out of action at opposite ends of theseries of needles in active position at each oscillation by means of awidening picker and continuing thus to a predetermined point in eachsegment corresponding to the number of knitted courses required tocomplete the head-side fash- 0 ioning and thereafter lowering allneedles on that side as a unit by means of a cam, such unit beingdesigned to provide two aggregations of blank stitches, one disposedmidway therein and the other adjacent to the said predetermined point;and of continuing the widening first described on the crown end of thesegment only until all needles are in active position; of raising allbut everactive needles out of action at the completion of each segment.

L. BORSOOK.

